What SPORTS are you viewing on television or playing?

I watched the Jazz lose to the Mavericks in SLC. It was a great game despite the outcome, and most likely the end of an era.

I watched the Australian broomball championships last week (I had relations playing haha).

Yesterday I watched some baseball, which I haven't watched for years but got into it for a patch about 10-12 years ago and just felt the urge, no idea why (I think because I am sick lol, just needed to totally veg out to something meditative. I also flicked over the to the NWSL for a bit

I am currently debating whether or not I watch my useless local football team who have been mismanaged on and off the field to death and are currently managed by an awful person who basically should not have a job. I swore off watching till he's gone - he was only meant to be temporary but then they signed him for 2 years. There's also a bit of a bit of schadenfraude involved if I watch because the management hired him convinced that if they can just get the team winning again all the underlying problems won't matter, but, he's not winning, so there's a bit of a "yes yes sickos" thing going on with me, if you know the meme.

My beloved Liverpool (I write about them here: extratime.blog/ ) still in the hunt for the mythical "quadruple." Most other nations talk about a treble (league trophy, domestic cup, European cup) but England being England has a second domestic cup which we've already won (League Cup.) We're in the final for the other one (FA Cup) that takes place in a couple weeks; going to play the second leg of the semifinal this week in the Champions League/European Cup where we have a two goal lead from the first leg; and at time of writing are two points in the lead in the Premier League, although our rival for that spot (Manchester City) play at 12:30 EST today with the chance to retake the lead.

No one's ever won all four trophies available in the same season in English football, so it would be quite the monumental achievement if we can pull it off. Long odds, though, especially since the team we're likely to meet in the Champions League final is... Man City. Had two draws with them in the league and a solid win for us in the FA Cup, so no telling how a fourth match would turn out.

My boss was born in Liverpool, so we've been hearing all about the mythic quadruple. I'm a Spa Operations Supervisor and the sports chatter is a nice change of pace.

We went to see John Oliver live on New Year's (pre-Pandemic) and he told a story about being a lifelong fan and having recently had the chance to meet them them. He was in the crowd during a match and someone asked if he wanted to meet them afterwards; when they took him down to the locker room post-match, almost the entire team was completely naked. Apparently, he was there with Craig David, who greeted them with confident handshakes and direct eye contact while Oliver hung back awkwardly trying not to stare. What a way to meet your heroes!

Yeah, aside from the possibility of an unprecedented slew of trophies in one season, we just extended the contract of our manager (Jürgen Klopp) and his entire staff for another two years because he said he wanted to build a "dynasty", we might be watching the other major club in Liverpool, Everton (you can't really call them a "crosstown" rival, because their stadium is less than a mile from ours and can be seen from Anfield) take the drop for the first time in almost 70 years, and our other major rival, ManU, have been in a complete state of chaos for the past few seasons and we beat them, 9-0, in our two matches this year. It's, uh, a really good time to be a Reds fan.

I sometimes forget how international this site is. It is good to be reminded.

Off-topic, because I am watching this on YouTube instead of television, and also not playing it. But today was the last day of the summer grand sumo tournament.

Like many westerners, I used to think that sumo was a bunch of fat guys in diapers shoving each other. Then about ten years ago one of the martial arts blogs I read did an article on it that opened my eyes and I’ve watched every tournament since. Sumo rules. It has amazing athleticism, high drama, and every tournament tells a story.

Some interesting factoids:
- it’s one of the very few combat sports with no weight classes. It is not uncommon for there to be a disparity of 100lbs or more between two wrestlers.
- it can be surprisingly brutal. You can’t strike with a closed fist, but you can open hand slap as hard as you want. Knockouts are unusual but occasionally happen.
- the rules are pretty simple. Make the other guy touch the ground with anything other than his feet, or touch outside the ring with anything, and you win. As mentioned, you can’t strike with a closed fist. You also can’t attack the hair, eyes, or groin. You can’t kick above the knee. Anything else goes.

Tournaments are 15 days. Each wrestler has one bout per day. You win the tournament if you have the best win/loss record at the end of the 15 days. Wrestlers have a history and they all know each others’ preferred techniques. Maybe your opponent likes to grab on the belt and go for throws, or maybe they’re a power guy who will bear hug you and try to march you out. Better prepare and practice your counters.

The sport has a promotion/relegation system, like association football. You are ranked and can rise or fall depending on your record — lose enough and you fall to the lower divisions. Win enough and you rise to the top, where higher salaries, more glory, and better sponsorship opportunities await.

There’s a tournament every odd-numbered month. May’s tournament went down to the wire; coming into today, two people were tied at 11-3, with two others at 10-4. If the front runners lost, and the second group won, there’d be a four-way playoff for the championship. However one of the 11-3 dudes lost, and the other one won, clinching the title with a 12-3 record.

The winner was the current Yokozuna, Terunofuji. He has one of the greatest Cinderella stories in modern sports. He’s Mongolian by birth — apparently their folk wrestling style is very similar to sumo, but there’s no money in it, so the best Mongolian wrestlers come to Japan. He rose all the way to the second-highest rank a few years ago, one rank below Yokozuna. Then he blew out his knees and had to take a huge amount of time off for surgery and rehabilitation. This caused him to plummet down the rankings with multiple consecutive 0-15 tournament results (due to withdrawing). He reentered the bottom division, where it’s mostly high schoolers trying to see if they can make it. Over the next couple years, he slowly ground his way back into the top division, and finally got the promotion to Yokozuna. Since then he’s been dominant, proving that he deserved the promotion. His knees are still a ticking time bomb and are taped up six ways from Sunday every match, but as long as they hold he will continue to repeatedly own people.

Other noteworthy wrestlers:
- Ura. Complete nutjob, goes for zany acrobatic moves that pay off way more than they should. A fan favorite.
- Enho. A little guy at 5’9” and 220lbs, he looks like a midget in the ring. Has to resort to very dynamic tricks to hold his own against 100-200lb disadvantages.
- Hoshoryu. The nephew of the recently-retired GOAT, the Yokozuna Hakuho. Hakuho has the best record of any wrestler since they’ve been keeping track starting a few hundred years ago. Hoshoryu has a lot of expectations on him. Currently he is pretty good. Can he ascend to greatness? Unknown.
- Wakatakakage. One of three brothers currently in pro sumo. He’s the highest ranked and has the best odds of breaking through. Very close to the total package — strong, tough, agile, great technique. Has traps for days.

So yeah, sumo. The only sport I really follow these days. Doesn’t have the BS machismo of boxing or MMA. Just pure competition.

Enho highlight reel:


Ura highlight reel:


If you want to watch matches on YouTube, NattoSumo is the best channel IMO. SumoStew is a good source of basic info to increase understanding and enjoyment.

Yesterday's football games summed up why the Premier League is amazing to follow. There were at least six matches I wanted to watch simultaneously as they all had dramatic league implications.

For those that don't follow football, Liverpool was one point behind Manchester City and needed City to draw or lose while they won. For 80 minutes Man City's opponents, Aston Villa were indulging Liverpool fans by putting 2 past City. Liverpool was giving everyone indigestion by playing Wolves to a draw in a match they needed to win. Then in the span of 5 minutes Man City scored three goals blowing Aston Villa out of the water and securing the league. Liverpool ended up winning their match but it ultimately didn't matter. Aston Villa is currently managed by an ex-Liverpool legend making this outcome all the more disappointing narrative wise. If Liverpool had won this they'd still be on track for the quadruple (finishing top in four major competitions) which I don't think any team has ever done. As it stands, let's see if they can still get the triple!

Meanwhile, slightly lower down the table Spurs (COYS!) were fighting their local rivals Arsenal for top 4 (and qualifications for UCL). After a disappointing run of form culminating in last week's head to head loss against Spurs, Arsenal threw away a comfortable spot in fourth to end up needing Spurs to drop points in the final match of the day. Spurs were having none of it and ended up putting their match against Norwich to bed relatively quickly.

Even further down the table Leeds and Burnley were fighting to not get relegated and were even on points going into Sunday. If they both won then Leeds was likely to go down due to a 20 goal difference but they otherwise each needed to secure a win while the other lost. Leeds got their wish because Newcastle ended up beating Burnley and sending them back to the Championship. Burnley played shithouse football but I always thought of them as the little team that could as they had stayed up in the Premier League far longer than they had any right to given the level of investment they were receiving.

Liverpool and City are just too damn good as teams - this is the second time in three years that Liverpool were runners up to City by a margin of 1 point. In 2018/2019 Liverpool only lost one match, this season, two. It is wild that the margin between top teams is how many draws they're getting. For context, Man City has 93 points, Liverpool 92 and then third place Chelsea has 74. This is all out of a theoretical max of 114 points, which assumes a team won every single one of its games.

The last day of the Premier League is truly a magical moment.

You're correct that no one has ever managed the quadruple. No one has even gotten this far (reaching all 3 cup finals and finishing second.) So, yes, ir was an exciting day, except for 5 damn minutes at the Etihad... A 7th European Cup will kind of make up for losing the league by a point again, but not entirely.

I finally beat my wife at ping pong. The trick is to not make mistakes and hop side to side rather than step. She was swearing and slamming her paddle on the table in the lobby of the YMCA. It was amazing.

DarthJoJo wrote: I finally beat my wife

Congratulations!

I recently completed watching both the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femme. The men's race was it's usual brutal self. The women's race was awesome! I guess this is the first TdFF in almost 40 years. They built a really tough final two stages and the women were put to the test. Phenomenal ride by the winner. She was untouchable.

I only followed the Tours through Lanterne Rougue’s daily recaps but found myself looking forward to the women’s stages more. Not to take anything away from the athleticism of the men, but there was a brief nod to the breakaway and stage winners before turning all attention to the peloton and the handful of riders who had a chance at the yellow jersey. Van Aert, Vingegaard and Podgacar put on marvelous performances but were rarely competing for the stage. It seemed the yellow jersey was always at the front for the women.

Agree on the men. There were only two guys who were ever going to win it and they finished 1-2. Van Aert is a specimen to behold though.

The women's yellow was interesting. It was always at the front due to the nature of their race. It was shorter. You had to stay up front. And as usual, the mountains decided the winner. Marianne Vos was very strong in her stage wins but apparently isn't the climber Van Vleuten was.